Jade quietly stepped into the children's play room. She smiled at her children; Claira trying to teach Shilah how to paint at the paint station. Claira had the knack for art. A beautiful sunset was painted on the paper canvas. Underneath, Shilah was painting blobs for people. Claira was a proud big sister. She was not mad at the two year old boy for 'ruining' her picture. Instead, she told him how good he was doing. Jade was a proud momma.

She frowned at herself. She had missed everything in the last year and a half. To top it off, Jade looked nothing of her former self just yet. She was not used to being this thin. She was nothing but skin and bones, and she hated it. Nothing fit right. Nothing felt right. Her cheeks were hollow. Her eyes looked lifeless and sunken in. Her body was trying so hard to regain itself within the short time that she had been on her own. She sighed.

Claira looked back at her mother and gave a little smile, "Mommy? Do you need anything? You should be resting."

"I was just thinkin'... This isn't a home to you anymore, is it?" Jade was being frank with her baby. There was no use edging around things at a time like this. And she knew Claira could take it. She was ten, but with everything that had happened... she was more like a little adult now.

"No, not really. It has all of our happy memories, but it also reminds me of you when you had the badness in you," she sighed as she looked back at her picture and then at her brother.

"I don't like bad mommy..." Shilah spoke softly, "But I like you, Momma!" He beamed back at her.

"I love you, baby," Jade moved and kissed him on top of the head, then looked to Claira, "Claira, I have an idea."

"Yes?"

"We could be with the rest of our family, and Shilah and you could play with your cousins any time you wanted..." Jade trailed off, testing the waters with her daughter.

"Move into the compound, the Ravenlock compound?"

"Yes. We would have our little side, just like Brian and Jen always offered before."
"Why now? How do you know they will take us in?"

She stroked her daughter's curly raven locks, "We need family. They need their family. We all need each other, especially now. We need to band together. We shouldn't be by ourselves now. We need to heal and grow together."

Claira nodded, "I've missed them. But Uncle Bri made you bad."

"That was not your uncle. I've told you; it was the same darkness and badness that had me. Only it was far worse with Brian. That's why we need to heal with them. It happened to them too," Jade sat in a little seat next to her children.

Shilah held his sister's hand, and Claira made a face, "Can we always keep this house as another option?"

"Yes, of course," She smiled down at the two. Though, it hurt that Shilah didn't know her really, she was happy that he was so close to Claira. "If you two don't like it there, or don't get along with anyone, we can come back here to ourselves. I promise. But they only want to love you two. They aren't bad. Bad things just happened."

Mistrust showed in both of their little eyes, but she understood why. It would take some time before anything would be better in their eyes, or a big miracle to happen. She was begging for a miracle at this point.

Claira squeezed her brother's little hand, "I'd like to be around family. It'd be nice to be surrounded by love again."

Jade gave a small smile at the two, with a soft kiss to the pair's foreheads, "I'll go make a call, okay?"

With that, she got up and exited the room. She headed to the nearest phone and dialed a number that was one of the many she'd never forget.

Within a few rings, she heard a familiar purr on the other end.

"Hey sweets, it's Jade."
"I know who yoooooou~ are."
"Can I speak with Brian?"
"Heeeeee's been waaaaiting on you to call. Why you take so long?"

She gave a soft laugh as the kitty girl handed the phone to Brian.
He answered, saying hello and all the formals.

"Brian... you know that thing you were talkin' to me about? How you'd like the family to all be in the compound? Together. Yea, I think I'd like to do that. I think we'd like that a lot."

Somehow, Brian found the phone receiver on small table nestled in a corner of the main hall. A cringe took hold as he saw Jenai?s spider monkey going branch to branch in the old camphor tree, that was the literal centerpiece of the main hall, itself. Faintly he smiled, thinking back to Wren?s arrival in the Inn with the pair of monkeys in tow, and that smile turned to a shudder that took his whole body, as he quickly recalled Jenai?s reaction to his ?order 66? on her little buddies.

Thankfully they had been spared. Then again, Brian it seemed was hardly spared as Zephyr decided that he and the howler?or was it the spider? Either way, that he and one of these furry savages would make a great team. But that is a story for another day, folks.

Back to the matter at hand, as Brian picked up the phone. ?Hello??

"Brian... you know that thing you were talkin' to me about? How you'd like the family to all be in the compound? Together. Yea, I think I'd like to do that. I think we'd like that a lot."

Brian remained quiet for a good bit, as he simply listened to a voice he had not heard in over a year, if not more. Thoughts went back to the last time they had spoken, which was still muddled within a ?fog of war? so to speak. It seemed that way for a great deal of the people that had been directly involved in the fall of Raven, and his forces. What Brian could remember more than anything was, that he had not been there when Kerri and Jade had been freed from their prisons by an ally of Shauri?s and Henrietta, who had once worked directly with Jacyn before turning from him, and assisting those whom she had once been charged with eliminating.

Brian also recalled the doppelganger of Jade, that he had faced when Lupinius had come to his aid in the City, as they headed to the Market Place. The encounter was a brutal one with no quarter asked of each side, and in the end--- he had ended her from within using a ?runic blood tap?, which caused all the blood in her form to erupt from her body in every possible avenue. With whatever she had left, she had spoken to him. The words however were lost on Brian, presently. More than likely, due to the fact that Brian along with Jenai and several others had been taken from Rhy?Din itself to finish their work.

Courtesy of the Lady Myllyanna Sliver, and her Onyx Lotus.

?Hey Bri? Bri you there???

Jade?s voice snapping Brian from the recollections, as he answered softly. ?I?m here.?

Back and forth, she and he spoke. A laugh here, and a sigh there. It was a touch and go type of deal, of course. Each side rather tentative when it came to the other, but that hardly mattered at the end of the day. Because they were family.

And family always took care of family, no matter what.

?Jade, come home. We?ll be waiting, all of us. Yeah, I know. We?ll talk more, I promise. We love you too.?

Brian set the phone down, and turned to see?well several pairs of eyes staring back at him.

Kerri, Jeskola, Yotsuba, Aleyah and Nathressa.

?????..?

?????.?

?They?re coming home. Get the wing ready.?

Cheers an hi fives erupted from the five that had Brian partially surrounded and with that the twins took off one way, with Jes and Yotsuba heading in another.

That left Brian with Kerri standing in front of him.

?Ye??

Soundly was Brian cut off, as Kerri stepped in and gave him a hug.

?Yer a good guy, you know??

Brian returned that hug, ?No I?m not. I?m just a guy who took too long to get things taken care of.?

Releasing him, Kerri shook her head. ?Lies, an Slander Muchacho! You never gave up on any o? this, or any o? us. An we?ll never give up on you.?

Kerri gave a quick two fingered salute, ?Now I gotta get ready for my newest recruits! Nya ha!?

Off was the Queen of Mithra Mayhem as Brian just shook his head softly, and went back to work.